"Did you see that?!!!" Mark shouted with excitement as he looked at me with a bright face. Unable to believe what he just did, he just stood there in ecstacy, smiling like an idiot. He then, moved towards me and hugged me tightly, before speaking,
"Man! You are awesome!"
"Aren't you the one who shot the arrow? What's your gift anyways? You never gave me the details," I asked as he then made an 'o' expression before telling me about his gift.
[Gift: Eagle's Eyes
Grade: Mortal Grade-4
Effect: Increases the viewpoint accuracy of the Target based on the user's Intelligence!
-For every 1 point in intelligence, the user's viewpoint increases by 1000 Meter!
-For every 1% increase in the distance (Based on max distance the user can see) from the user, the accuracy decreases by 1% (Max 100%) ]
"…"
"…"
This time it was mine and Alice's turn to be silent. We both looked at Mark with mixed gazes. I being calmer, asked him,
"Brother."
"Yes?"
"What's your intelligence stat, right now?"
"It's 2."
"Thought so."
In the end, I sighed. Well, Mark wasn't the sharpest in the bunch, but I guess that's good in its own way? I don't know…
"Put the last point in intelligence first," I prompted him with a polite smile, and not understanding much, he did. Will increasing Intelligence will make him smarter? I did not know. But I guess we will have proper opportunities regarding that.
"Now shoot again," I said, making him nod at me before beginning to aim again.
-Shing!
And another one died. It wasn't that the arrows were strong or the monsters were weak, just that those arrows hit the monsters weak point, resulting in a critical hit and killing them in a single attack..
82% accuracy. That's overwhelming for someone with a Mortal Grade… Why was it even a mortal grade anyway? I felt like my common sense will crumble if I try to find the meaning behind [Gifts] and how they are graded.
Mark used the rest of the 7 arrows and killed 7 more monsters. Then he bought more arrows from the [Shop] and continued his hunt in a rather excited manner.
Alice and I smiled looking at him, before we went back to relax for the time being. While Alice checked the [Shop] as well, I began pondering about something else.
'Is everyone else this powerful?' This was the question I stumbled upon after looking at Alice and Mark's hunt. Given the right tools, they could wipe the entire map themselves. The [Tutorial Shop] was enough to make people way stronger than others.
But the fact that less than 20% of the people were alive made me shake off those thoughts. Whether they were strong or weak, it does not matter to me. I have my own goals and ways, and I don't need to worry what others will do with their life.
"Hey Mark, I think that goblin is a bit different," and calling me out of my day dreaming, Mark shouted as he looked ahead with a tense expression.
'Or perhap the F-Grade goblins are just that weak,' I thought as I stood up and walked beside Mark. Alice too joined us, while I observed the goblin and sighed.
'The Goblin Hunter is finally here, huh?' I thought as I looked at Mark and spoke,"shoot another one."
Following my command, Mark shot another arrow that flew up in the sky before moving towards the Goblin. But right before the arrow could reach that goblin, he took a side step, cleanly dodging it, before looking at the direction where the arrow came from.
"H-He is looking at us… now he is running… Adrian! Adrian! He is running towards us!" Mark spoke, panicking as he pulled another arrow, almost ready to shoot at him. Alice also prepared to attack but I raised my hand stopping their movements.
"Wait until he gets closer. Make sure to put extra effort into shooting this one," I spoke as I waited for him to get closer.
300 metres… 200 metres… 100 metres… 50 metres… 20 metres…
[Blood Gaze!]
"Adrian?!"
"Now!" I spoke out loud as Mark shooted at that goblin with maximum effort.
-SHING!!!
-Snap!!
-Thud!!!!
The arrow flew at an insane speed, creating a hole in that goblin's head, as it fell down on the ground lifeless. Though the bow which Mark was using also broke down into two pieces, hurting even Mark a little bit.
"Ow! Son of a- Huh? Goblin Hunter? E-Grade? 2000 POINTS!!!" Mark was about to curse before he noticed the notification and shouted in an excited manner. His eyes were glued to the notification while I and Alice looked at that goblin with a narrowed expression.
"Get better spells. You too, Mark. Buy a stronger bow," I then turned around and continued walking towards the place where our food was. Beginning to pack, I then spoke out loud,
"Seems like we need to up our game. Both speed wise and strength wise."
'Did I act well? It looks like it,' I thought as I finally relaxed on the inside. Actually I saw that goblin about a kilometer away as he was walking towards us. It was a perfect opportunity for me to make Alice and Mark more cautious, or else they might have become more complacent.
Anyways, using the points that Mark earned, we bought a much stronger bow for 13,000 Points and another skill, [Electric Bolt!] for 22,000 Points, using everything we had for now. This should give us an advantage of speed before we can buy more equipment for ourselves.
With their new skills and weapons, the hunt became slightly easier. While there were instances of a few more Goblin Hunters, and even a Goblin Warrior, with the combined effect of Alice and Mark, we were able to kill them all easily.
As time passed, Alice got more skills and newer equipment from the [Shop], increasing her overall prowess to at least twice as when she started. On the other hand, I asked Mark to save points until he could get a 80000 Points worth of skill that would increase his hunt by a huge margin.
[Skill: Mana Arrow!
Grade: D
Effect: Create an arrow for 10-1000MP. The more mana you put into it, the stronger the arrow.
Restrictions:
-The user's Mana should be unlocked
Cost: 80,000 Points!]
80,000 Points is about 4000 Arrows since each arrow costs 20 points, but since Mark's gift revolves around intelligence, having this skill has more pros than cons.
'Mark still needs to have his mana unlocked though,' I sighed as it was another heavy expense for Mark. I then looked forward with my eyes narrowed at a certain distance. Something was walking towards us… but…
"NPCs?" I spoke out loud as I looked at a family of 4 running towards us in a hurried manner, probably chased by some monsters.
The distance was still about 2 kilometers so we were still quite far away. But that also meant that we needed to hurry up.
"Mark. Protect them. Alice, use your skill to upgrade [Poison Field!]," I spoke as we hurried towards those NPCs. Understanding my intentions, they nodded before we ran towards that area as hurriedly as possible
Alice's only AOE skill, she upgraded it before using it on the group of goblins in front. Mark on the other hand shot arrows one after another at the monsters behind the NPCs. Most of them missed early, but as we moved closer the target began hitting with more accuracy.
Half the way, I saw they were chased by goblin hunters on foot, and I sighed in relief. At least there weren't any fanged wolves, or we would have been too late. With Mark's accuracy, he killed most of the approaching goblins, before finally reaching them.
Though their expression still wasn't relieved at all. Instead the man approached Alice hurriedly with a panicked expression. His eyes were swollen, as the tears kept flowing. He got on his knees and held her by the foot. She felt a bit awkward, looking at me for help.
But for now, I just listened to this man's plea as he spoke,
"Heroes! Saintess! Please save my daughter from those goblins! They are going to sacrifice her! Please! I beg you! Please save my daughter!"